The Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine (original) (raw)

This is Dean Edell Long-Awaited Book on modem medical myths and erroneous beliefs. It was worth the wait. The subtitle, “Why the Health Experts Are Wrong,” is probably the publisher’s idea, and is a bit misleading, but it does represent “Dr. Dean’s” attitude toward health fear mongers, the “health nags” who tell us daily which … [...]

Dr. Sampson “Postmodern Medicine ” Is a Clear and accurate analysis of the effects of postmodernism on medicine. My field is history of medicine and I want to underline that although the deleterious influence of postmodernism on medical science is, for the moment at least, contained in history of medicine, it has been devastating. Whereas … [...]

When The Polio Epidemic was at its Peak In the mid-1950s and the Salk vaccine was being promoted for immunization against poliomyelitis, the National Chiropractic Association campaigned against polio vaccination and recommended chiropractic adjustments for preventing and treating the disease. Defending the use of the Salk vaccine, the US surgeon general issued this statement in … [...]

Modern Public Health Traces The Origin of multiple chemical sensitivities to Snow’s mapping of cholera cases and his subsequent removal of the handle of the Broad Street pump. Reducing the public’s exposure to environmental pollutants has long been a major role of public health practice. In earlier years pollutants were found to be biological pathogens … [...]

In the 1970s A Colorado Dentist Hal Huggins started claiming that mercury in amalgam dental fillings caused a wide variety of diseases. In 1985 he published a book detailing his beliefs about “mercury toxicity.”1 Since that time the antiamalgam movement has grown substantially. Popular-health writers have also warned of the potential “dangers” of amalgam fillings.2-3 … [...]

Community Water Fluoridation Serves as an example of a perfect public health intervention. Because the benefits can be readily provided to everyone served by a fluoridated public water system, large groups of people can be protected in a manner that does not discriminate against any group, regardless of race, socioeconomic status, gender, or any other … [...]

Thanks mostly to immunization, diseases such as measles, polio, diphtheria, tetanus, and rubella are rare in the developed world. Today’s immunizations work by enhancing the body’s own immunity. Because they are effective, simple, natural, and prevention-based interventions, we might expect “complementary medicine” theoreticians to embrace them. However, opposition to immunization is common within the “alternative … [...]

People who believe that the practice of medicine should be limited to methods and procedures that meet available scientific standards of safety and efficacy, complementary methods used in the art of patient care that have compatible rationales, and conduct that is consistent with established ethical principles,* are justifiably concerned about the proliferation of alternative medicine … [...]

Editor’s Note: This case was submitted by the author as a case of psychic healing by a healer in San Francisco who has ministered to a number of well-known people. The case presents an unusual clinical situation that requires careful reading and perhaps library investigation to understand. The editors present it as an exercise in … [...]

On March 8 of this year, President Clinton announced the creation of a White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy. Executive Order 13147 called for no more than 15 members of a commission that “shall provide a report, through the Secretary of Health and Human Services, to the President on legislative and administrative … [...]